(JHE) — Heritage activists have initiated steps to form a working group aimed saving the ruined 18th century Great Synagogue in Brody, 90 km northeast of Lviv, following the collapse of a support column, further endangering the massive building, which is listed as a monument of national importance.
A column supporting the already heavily damaged ceiling vaulting collapsed on February 27.
Sasha Nazar, head of the Lviv Society of Jewish Culture, has formally appealed to officials at the Lviv Oblast Department of Architecture (LODA) to take part in a strategy team. LODA is responsible for the synagogue and any conservation or work directive must be ordered on its initiative.
Nazar said he met with officials at LODA on Wednesday and also consulted with architects and monuments preservation experts.
The aim of the working group would be to develop an emergency road map to rescue the synagogue, Nazar said. Local and international heritage experts as well as officials would form part of the team.
Priorities would entail conducting an engineering examination of the building, and based on this to develop a project on how to carry out emergency work — and then carry out the work.
“The main goal now [in forming a working group] is to define areas of responsibility,” Nazar told JHE. This means bureaucracy and other paper work, since public authorities are responsible for the synagogue, he said.
“I hope we will be able to clearly spell out responsibility,” he said. “Only after that we will look for specialists.”
Watch a news video about the Feb. 27 collapse of the column:
The synagogue underwent some post-WW2 restoration after 1960, but apparently due to poor construction, the western wall collapsed before 1990, and further deterioration, including collapse of the ceiling, has continued over the decades.
In August 2019, the hulking ruins of the synagogue formed the backdrop for a memorial symphonic concert marking the 125th birthday of the great Jewish writer Joseph Roth, who was born in Brody. The centerpiece of the program was the 1963 Symphony No. 3 — “Kaddish,” by the American composer Leonard Bernstein.
At the time, critics expressed concern that the funding could have better been spent in efforts to preserve the synagogue ruins, but others applauded the event for drawing attention to the synagogue and to the Jewish history of Brody.
In his letter to LODA, Sasha Nazar noted that visiting Brody in 2019, the German ambassador “called on local authorities to take measures to preserve the synagogue in Brody. However, no action was taken.”
In a FB post, he decried the fact that no steps have been taken in the wake of the 2019 concert, and added, “there is a silent agreement to watch the destruction of this monument of architecture…”
Want to find out how to help? Contact Sasha Nazar at: [email protected]
See an architectural description of the synagogue by the Center for Jewish Art
5 comments on “Ukraine: Can the ruined Great Synagogue of Brody be saved? Activists seek to form working group to chart & implement strategy”
The need to protect and conserve the great Brody synagogue has been on preservation radar for 25 years, but the circumstances just have not seemed to align to make it happen, and resources have gone into the restoration of some other important Ukrainian synagogues. For time it seemed it might be made secure as a protected ruin, but even this has not happened. It seems this is the time to act- now or never. Brody ha one of the most amazing Jewish cemeteries in Europe (and another that was still being used as a soccer field when I first visited more than a decade ago. Together – synagogue and cemetery should be better recognized and protected – even given UNESCO World Heritage Status. The Brody synagogue at least should be on every preservation endangered list – included the WMF Watch list.
I applaud the efforts to preserve the synagogues of Europe- especially in the former Pale of Settlement. Two years ago I drove through eastern Poland and Lithuania to see “witness” synagogues. It was intensely moving to stand on the same floors and view the same windows and walls where so many generations had worshipped for so long. Although the world has it’s hands full with pressing matters today, preserving these sacred structures would be yet another “most unsordid act of history.” And I never thought Jared Kushner would resurface as a tv anchor in Ukraine.
How can one help in any initiative to restore this extremely important Synagogue in Brody..home of my great grandfather?
We have included the email of Sasha Nazar in the article. Get in touch with him.
You can email Sasha, and the email address is included at the end of the article: [email protected]
The synagogue can most certainly be saved, if a coalition can be formed with Jewish descendants like yourself, heritage activists, tourism advocates, and others sensitive to Ukraine’s cultural heritage. It can be done.